32(S3E10)-The River

32

(Season 3, Episode 10)

The River

Fenton opened his hotel room door to Lana’s grinning face.  She stepped in and he shut the door behind her, his eyes watching her closely.

“Nice digs.”  She said, looking around.

“Indeed.”  Fenton spoke dismissively.  “Do you have it?”

“Of course.”  Lana said, bringing out the necklace.

Fenton snatched it from her and walked to the desk in the corner of the lavish room.  He pulled out a jeweler’s magnifying glass and examined the middle stone.  He smiled as he saw the micro-drive inside the same as when he had first procured the object.

“See, told you I could deliver.”  Lana’s self-gratification reminded Fenton that she was still in the room.

He looked up at her.  “Yes.  Yes indeed, you did.”

“So if you’ll just pay me, I’ll be on my way.”

“Two hours.” Fenton answered, still examining the stone.  “My buyers will be here then and they will be paying me, which will allow me to pay you.”

Lana groaned.  “I hate waiting.”

“A small price to pay.”  Fenton answered, continuing to play with the necklace.  Something did not feel quite right about it.  It looked like the necklace but something about the weight bothered Fenton.

Almost as if on cue, his phone began to ring.  He picked it up, checking the I.D.

The screen read ‘Sidney’.

He stared for a full second then turned to Lana.  “You said you took care of Sidney.”

Lana looked confused.  “I did.  I left her in the bank vault.  The bank would have opened two hours ago. She’s probably sitting in the back of a fed’s car right now.”

“Then why is she calling me?” Fenton asked, his voice even and ice cold.

“What?  That’s not possible.  She didn’t have her phone and-“  Lana was cut off as Fenton raised an irritated finger to silence her.  He turned towards the window and looked out on the city of Akron in the morning sun.  He took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

“My only regret is that I couldn’t see your face when my number came up on your phone.” Sidney’s snotty voice came through like a nightmare.

“Well, this is confusing.  I have a former associate of yours here who says you should be on your way to prison for attempted bank robbery.”  Fenton tried to keep the rage out of his voice.

He could almost hear her smile.  “It would be rather hard for them to charge me with attempted bank robbery when there was no bank.”

Fenton frowned.  “Excuse me.”

“Put me on speaker.  I want Lana to hear this.”  Sidney said and Fenton hesitated.  “Come on dad.  What do you have to lose?”

Fenton scowled and put the phone on speaker, placing it on the desk in front of himself and Lana.

Sidney’s voice filled the room.  “Hello Lana.  How’s your morning going?”

Lana Frowned.  “Where are you calling us from Sid, the bank vault?”

“There was no bank.”  Sidney answered matter-of-factly.

Lana shook her head.  “I was in the bank with you, and last night I stole the necklace from you.  I locked you in.”

“That building was a bank, they closed that branch one week ago so the building is still basically intact.  I had to get help but the furniture was moved in the night before, the money in the cage is fake.” Sidney explained.

Lana shook her head as if reality had just warped around her.  “But it was fully staffed!  We cased it that morning!”

“Ah, yes.  The people.  You see, Tobias is a very friendly person.  In fact, when I helped him save his business a couple years ago, as well as the jobs of everyone working there, they became rather loyal to him.  Thankfully a couple of them were pretty good actors, too.” Sidney spoke with a special kind of glee in her voice.

“They were all cooks?” Lana said suddenly pale.  “Even the manager?”

“Oh he is a manager.” Sid almost laughed.  “A culinary manager.”

Lana felt sick.  “But, but why would you go through all this to give me the necklace?”

“Because it’s a fake, you twit.” Fenton snapped at Lana.

“Points to daddio,” Sidney said.  “Fake as can be.”

There was a knock at the door and Lana spun around.  “Who is that?!”

“Too early to be the buyers.”  Fenton said to her and to himself.

Of course, Sidney had the answer.  “That is detective Eugene Sellers.  My guess is that the people who would buy such an object are very dangerous people, so Detective Sellers is here to take your statements.  He has agreed to be nice if you tell him about the attempted murder of Tobias as well as everything else you have done.  I doubt your buyers would offer the same.”

Fenton took a deep breath.  “Well Sidney, it seems I have underestimated you.”

“Save it,” Sid’s voice was dark again.  “We’re done.  Go to prison or get yourselves killed.  Your choice. Either way, I win.”

“Indeed.” Fenton said.  “You always were my favorite.”

“You are ten years too late.  Goodbye Fenton.” Sidney hung up.

“What are we going to do?!” Lana was panicking.  “There is no way out of here!”

“No,” Fenton said accepting his fate.  “No, there is not.”

He crossed the room and opened the door.  “Detective Sellers.  Please come in.  My name is Fenton Sanoma and I would like to make a full confession.”

****

“You are ten years too late.  Goodbye Fenton.”  Sidney said before ending the call and placing her phone back into her pocket.

She did so just before walking through the front doors of the hospital, a small gift box in her hand.  The restaurant crew had returned not more than ten minutes after Lana had locked her in the vault to let her out.  They had brought a large flatbed and removed all the furniture they had brought in the night before and were out before the sun came up.

With the job done, her father on his way to either prison or hell.  The energy had drained out of her and was replaced by an all-consuming exhaustion.  She would relish the sleep she would get upon her return to home but she had one last thing to do before the reward of rest.

She had to say goodbye.

She made her way through the sterile halls of the hospital before reaching Tobias’s room.  Sitting on a chair outside the room was Hank.

She had never seen him so broken, his arm in a sling and his broad shoulders drooping low.  He looked up and half smiled at her.  “Hey Sid.”

“You look like shit.”  Sidney gave it to him straight.

“Arm hurts like hell and the sister won’t speak to me.” Hank said shrugging.

“She will, Linda’s not the kind to not forgive her brother.”  Sidney said.

Hank nodded.  “I know, just feel kind of responsible.  I should have stopped him from doing the job in the first place.”

“It’s okay,” Sidney answered.  “I took care of Fenton.  He won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”

“Good.” Linda’s voice snapped both Sidney and Hanks attention as she came out of Tobias’s room and shut the door behind her.

Sidney had a hard time finding the words.  “Linda.  How’s he doing?”

“He’s up and moving.”  Linda explained, her patience still obviously thin.  “He is going to be walking with a cane for the rest of his life.”

Sidney shrugged and tried to joke.  “Well, it will match his suit.”

No one laughed.

“I hope you got some peace out of this.”  Linda said with a very obvious sincerity through her rage.  “So that it was worth something.”

Sidney couldn’t answer.  She felt she had but saying so felt wrong.  Instead she just asked, “May I see him?”

Linda shrugged and stepped to the side.  Sidney walked in and shut the door behind her.

“You are such a hard ass.”  Hank said to his sister as a joke.

“And you’re a jack ass.” Linda growled back.

Hank did not get mad though, instead, he smiled.  It was the first thing she had said to him since the incident.  It meant he could fix this.

Eventually.

****

The door shut behind Sidney and Tobias looked up from sitting on the edge of the bed a cane in his right hand.  “Hey Sid.  So things escalated quickly didn’t they?”

Sidney laughed.  “Yes.  Yes they did.  Why did you do it?”

Tobias shrugged.  “I felt like someone had to.  Apparently I should have let someone else have the honor.”

They both awkwardly chuckled then there was a moment of silence that seemed to last forever.

“I beat him.” Sidney said finally.

“Never a doubt in my mind.”  Tobias answered with a grin.

Sidney sat on the edge of the uncomfortable hospital bed.

“Look, Sid.  I’m always going to be your friend, but I can’t be your partner anymore.” Tobias spoke without looking at her.

She smiled and handed him the box.  “Open it.”

“What is this?” Tobias asked.

“Late wedding gift.” She answered.  “Just open it.”

Tobias opened it.  Inside was a piece of paper forfeiting Sidney’s ownership rights of the restaurant to Tobias.  The other was the original necklace.

“Is this what I think it is?”  Tobias said, lifting the necklace.

Sidney smiled.  “Give it to your wife, it’ll help smooth this over.”

“Are you sure you want to give this to me?”  Tobias said, now referring to the contract.

Sidney stood, getting ready to leave.  “Have a family, run your business and have the life you always wanted.  You deserve it.”

Tobias nodded.  “Thank you.  What are you going to do now?”

Sidney shrugged.  “Let’s face it Bias, you were holding me back.”

Tobias couldn’t help but smile.  “Is that so?”

“I’m going back to the rapids,” She said ignoring him.  “I’m not ready to settle down, yet.”

Tobias smiled.  “Take care of yourself, Sid.”

“Right.  You too Sidney.”  He said and with that Sidney walked out of the room and out of Tobias’s life. As she walked down the hallway, her mouth formed into a bright smile.  She couldn’t help it.  She had always loved a good beginning.

END OF SEASON 3.